Zoe Murbarger

By Ella Borcherding

When Covid-19 swarmed through the United States many people were affected, including senior Zoe Murbarger. During J.B. Pritzker’s stay-at-home order, Zoe did her part to flatten the curve.

Governor J.B. Pritzker issued the stay-at-home order on March 21, 2020, marking the day everyone’s lives were put on hold. 

Throughout quarantine Zoe watched her little brothers. With her parents being at work and the babysitters having to cut back the number of children allowed, she helped watch them.

On March 16, District 35 along with the rest of Illinois students and teachers faced the challenge of remote learning. 

During this time Zoe’s school day included homework, TV and laying in bed. Zoe explained that through remote learning she did not feel she was learning as much as she was used to, but she did say her grades stayed the same. 

Covid-19 has altered the way everyone has been used to living. In Illinois, sports have been put on hold until cases start going down. 

The high school senior mentioned that she misses sports and all the fun activities that happen because of sporting events. 

Students were not the only ones affected in their families, their parents may have been affected too. 

A lot of people were sent home from their jobs or were let go so the spread of the virus would slow down. Zoe said her mom continued to go to work but then stated,” my dad was home for a few weeks, but then went back to work.”

Masks and social distancing have been required at many restaurants, grocery stores, and small businesses. Zoe has been doing her part and wearing a mask when required. 

These changes have been keeping people safe and Zoe agrees that after the virus goes away she will continue to wash her hands more frequently. 

Zoe Murbarger is just one out of many students whose lives were impacted by Covid-19 throughout the world. 

Marisa Morton

By Bailee Hilliard

The COVID-19 pandemic sent most students into a frenzy, but that did not ring true for Marisa Morton, a 17-year-old senior who is currently attending Flora High School. 

When asked how E-Learning affected her junior year academically, she said it had little to no change for her personally. None of the assignments were mandatory at the end of last year so she did not have to worry about turning certain things in or her grades. 

At the beginning of quarantine, Marisa only had to worry about helping her family out around the house with daily chores, or with her brothers and sisters.

When asked if she thought COVID had changed her home/family life, Marisa said that most of her family’s interactions were still the same. Her parents still went to work, and her siblings were still hanging out at home. 

Her working situation did have a drastic change, as she said that she went into quarantine without a job, and towards the end of the summer, she started working at a nursing home in her hometown of Flora IL.. While at work she is forced to wear a mask to help encourage social distancing between her and the residents. 

Although she has to wear a mask at work, Marisa says that one thing she misses a lot that we use to be able to do before the pandemic is to not wear masks around people that she is with on the daily when out in public. She says that to try and keep anyone around her safe, she has just been wearing a face mask when required to, although she does not enjoy it. 

When questioned about whether or not COVID had any type of lifestyle impacts on her, she brought up something that many people have been struggling with over the quarantine, and that is her sleep schedule getting worse. With staying up late hours, and not having to wake up early for any reason as the cause. 

Over Marisa’s quarantine, she has gained a job, a bad sleeping schedule, and things at home thankfully stayed the same.